G-Unit: Free Yayo

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In the future, only a team of rappers can bring down a media empire and restore freedom of expression. Riiiight.

By Levi Buchanan

Synergy is everything. On the heels of 50 Cent's new movie and console game, the rapper and his crew, G-Unit, are now starring in a mobile game. G-Unit: Free Yayo, is a direct reference to the real-life incarceration of Tony Yayo, but in the wireless edition, Yayo is caged up by an evil record empire, not local law enforcement. Yep, an evil record company named O-Corp which skeleton-esque robots -- as you can surmise, this takes place in the future. Apparently, the only hope for freedom of expression in this dystopia is if G-Unit can free Yayo and bring down the corrupt recording empire.

Now, I'm all for creative license and preposterous plots. But this is silly, and the goofiness reveals that G-Unit: Free Yayo is just an excuse to hang the G-Unit license on a shooting gallery type game. Because if you compare 50 Cent: Bulletproof to G-Unit: Free Yayo, you can tell which one the source material had more influence on.

Not every mobile game has to reinvent the wheel -- shooting galleries are okay in their own right, but this one just feels so loose. (And, yes, I know the target moves slightly to recreate the jitters of holding a gun steady.) Moving your cursor around the screen to shoot robots and record execs doesn't feel terribly reliable. (I tested the game on a Motorola V551.) Using both the number pad and thumb pad, it's hard to get a good, accurate shot off. This isn't so bad in the first mission, but when you have to try and shoot moving targets in a car chase sequence, or avoid shooting 50 as he wanders around the front of a building (aimlessly, mind you), the whole fun thing starts to seize up like an Escalade with sugar in the tank.

There is reward, though, for slogging through these lackluster sequences. Zingy has tucked some exclusive G-Unit ringtones and wallpapers into the game, which can be unlocked by completing objectives. I like this feature a lot, and I hope to see more of it if mobile game makers are going to keep releasing licensed games based on bands.

G-Unit: Free Yayo at least features an enjoyable style -- I really liked the flash-animation renditions of the crew and the design of the evil skull-headed robots. Between missions, the story unfolds over some small static-screen cinematics that look good and cartoon-y. And the music, when it plays, is solid beep-boop editions of familiar themes to fans.

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The Verdict

G-Unit: Free Yayo is a weak shooting game hiding behind a marketing hook: G-Unit. Without this license (or any license), I doubt many carriers would have given the game a second look. But I did appreciate the art style and the extra content that can be unlocked. Bonus content is another way mobile can really differentiate itself from traditional vids, and give the gamer extra value. I just wish, in the case of G-Unit: Free Yayo, it wasn't such a chore to get at it.